The regular season ended on Sunday, but not the Denver Broncos’ playoff hopes. The eight-year postseason drought ended after a 38-0 blowout over the Kansas City Chiefs in the final game at home for the season. It was the Broncos’ 10th win of the season, clinching the seventh and final playoff seed. This also eliminated the Cincinnati Bengals, who needed Denver to lose to claim the final spot.

The last time the Broncos were in the playoffs was in 2016 when they won Super Bowl 50 south of San Francisco. Since then, the Broncos have gone through a series of quarterbacks and head coaches and an ownership change before landing on Sean Payton and Bo Nix to lead the team to the playoffs. This season, they overcame the most expensive dead cap salary hit in NFL history, losing 85 million in the Russell Wilson trade.

After having an extended college career, Nix was the perfect fix for Denver, which made him more NFL-ready than the average college quarterback going pro. Not thought to amount to much by many in his first season, Nix and the Broncos exceeded expectations, finishing the season 10-7 and claiming the seventh seed in the playoffs. The 10-7 mark also tied with Russell Wilson and the Steelers, who also finished 10-7, taking the sixth seed in the playoffs.

“I think, it wasn’t just from the draft or free agency, but young and hungry can sometimes be pretty dangerous,” said Coach Sean Payton about his team. “I think that, you know, most NFL seasons are filled with highs and lows. Do you have the grit and the fortitude to weather the lows? [Our record was] 0-2, and going on the road, we won in Tampa. That was an important stretch, that East Coast swing.”

“When you can have some success, then you can have some confidence. Then it becomes something that can repeat itself. It’s hard to have confidence if you haven’t really demonstrated it yet, and so we began to see young players thrive in certain positions, some veterans, some key veterans, come in and fill in roles for us. So it was a number of different transactions that worked out. I’m proud of them.”

Given three chances to qualify for the playoffs in their final three games, the Broncos squandered their first two chances with losses, leaving it until the season’s final game to clinch a playoff spot. The first two games in that stretch were on national TV, with the first game being played in Los Angeles against the Chargers. The Broncos took control, scoring three consecutive touchdowns to start the game, but disappeared in the second half before losing. The second chance went into overtime in a thriller in Cincinnati, where the Broncos fell just short. It was the third try in Denver, where the Broncos scored three consecutive touchdowns again to start the game. This time, they would dominate in the win over the Chief’s backup players.

Bo Nix would turn in the best statistical game of his rookie season and be named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week by the NFL for his performance. Nix completed 26 29 pass attempts (89.7 percent) for 321 passing yards and four touchdowns, with a league-best 152.4 passer rating for the Broncos. Nix began Week 18 by completing each of his first 18 pass attempts, the most consecutive completions to start a game by a rookie since at least 1978. His 89.7 completion percentage in Week 18 is the highest single-game completion percentage by a rookie quarterback with a minimum of 25 pass attempts in NFL history.

This is the second career Offensive Player of the Week award for Nix, also earning the honor in Week 11. He also won Rookie of the Month in October (Weeks 5-8). Nix is the first-ever Broncos rookie quarterback to win Offensive Player of the Week. Nix becomes the fourth rookie quarterback to win Offensive Player of the Week multiple times, joining Robert Griffin III (two times in 2012), Marcus Mariota (two in 2015), and C.J. Stroud (two in 2023). Nix credited the veterans on the team for leading the way in their playoff push.

“That’s really what it comes down to, that’s all of it,” Nix said after the game. “Those guys have worked really hard. They deserve it, and they owned it this year. It means a lot. You hate to see your work each year (and) kind of be a little short, but this year was not. Those two [WR Courtland Sutton and T Garett Bolles] have led us well this year. They’re going to continue to lead us.

“Guys that are going to be around and are going to continue to make plays for this team, and it’s great. Also, for the young guys, Pat (S Pat Surtain) and all those guys on defense that have worked really hard this year to be in this position. [I’m] just very happy and proud of the guys. More importantly, just the organization. I think we owe it to the organization. We have a very strong ownership group that does a lot for us, and we’ve just got a lot of people that have our back, so it’s good to make the playoffs for this team.”

With the seventh seed in the playoffs, the Broncos will travel to Buffalo to take on the second-seeded Bills on Sunday morning. The sixth-seeded Pittsburgh Steelers will travel to Baltimore on Saturday night to face the Ravens. Rounding out the AFC matchups are the Los Angeles Chargers at the Houston Texans on Saturday afternoon.

“I think Buffalo is a tough atmosphere to go, especially in the playoffs later in the year,” said Pro Bowl return man/wide receiver Marvin Mims, Jr. “But we did (play the Bills in Buffalo) last year, so the confidence for me is up there. Being on that team last year and being able to go to Buffalo and get a primetime win on Monday night. They have a great team. Quarterback is playing really good, defense playing really good, so it’s going to be a good matchup for us.”

On their last visit to Buffalo, the Broncos pulled off the upset on Monday Night Football over the Bills. “I think in order for that to happen again, we have to be the most physical team,” Pat Surtain told the Sports Report.

“Going to away games, the odds are not in your favor with the atmosphere. Buffalo is a great team—we all know that. We know going into this run that road is going to be tough. I think as a team and as a whole, we need to understand that playing our brand of football wins us games. I think—granted the opportunity we have at stake—we shouldn’t be able to go into the game and think, ‘We need to do something different to be able to win this game.’ If we just play our game individually and everybody do their job, I think we come out victorious.” Game time is 11:00 Am MT on Sunday. (See the Broncos-Chiefs Photo Gallery at SportsReportNet.com).

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